


Phantom

by orphan_account



Category: Twilight Series - All Media Types, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Deconstruction, F/M, Schizophrenia, Vampires
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-15
Updated: 2017-03-21
Packaged: 2018-09-08 17:39:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8854729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: While murders happen on campus, a schizophrenic Bella connects with a man that seems less human each day.(This is a decon fic, if you genuinely like the book/movie you may not like what happens in this story).





	1. Trouble

**Author's Note:**

> Bella is different from canon (Stephanie barely made her a whole character, let’s face it). Chapter titles taken from ''Geek The Girl'' by Lisa Germano, which I urge you to listen to. Excellent album, by the way, one of the songs is pretty unsettling to listen to at night.

There was a day in which everything started at once. When I went back to the college campus after being hidden from it, I couldn’t help crying while getting closer to my roommate, Sylvia. I tried talking as I pulled her into a hug, but it probably was difficult to understand anyway.  
‘’Yeah, it’s alright’’ She said. I never knew whether it was sincere or she just wanted to avoid tension with a roommate. In a way, I knew I couldn’t have been blamed entirely for acting so weird.

 

The fact that our class chose me to write a play told me they knew why I had been away. I liked writing, and I think they thought of me as a good playwright, but I wouldn’t have trusted someone that had seem insane to me to write anything well. Maybe they wanted something ‘experimental’. I accepted to do it, with no problem, but I had to leave the main part of the campus for a while to be able to concentrate. In order to do that, I usually went to the park away from the dorms. It was really more like a forest that was left mostly intact except for being the school’s property. That was the reason why I preferred not to go unless I could really not concentrate in some other place. The small forest didn’t let one sit down without insects getting on clothes. That was probably what led me to keep walking until I couldn’t see anything from the campus anymore. I sat down there, facing where I came from to avoid not knowing how to go back.

 

Everything that came out made no sense. I only realized that until I felt I was done writing. I thought of going back then and connect all ideas later, but connecting was what required the most concentration. My story still made no sense but I kept myself there to at least name the characters.

 

There was only silence when I came back, until I reached a point where people were surrounding something. I asked one of them about it. He told me they’d found a ‘’girl’s corpse’’. At that point I realized I’d walked to the men’s dorms, the furthest place from where I was.  
‘’You killed Vera.’’ I heard. At first I didn’t even consider that was directed at me, but I heard it again yelled right beside my ear.  
‘’Excuse me?’’ I guess I’d forgotten that everyone knew what had happened just before I came back to school, because I was taken aback.  
‘’Everyone listen!’’ She yelled for everyone ‘’You remember that girl that laughed about her friend’s mother dying? She killed my friend.’’  
‘’Oh, wow.’’ I said ‘’No. I was in the park right now, I couldn’t have killed…’’  
‘’You’re insane.’’ She told me, loud enough for the dorms to hear ‘’Why would we trust you?’’  
I couldn’t correct her, but I was certain of what was happening. ‘’You don’t need to.’’ Then I saw black and touched my nose as I felt something trying to smash it. I let her beat me and throw me on the ground because I knew that hitting back would make others believe her. Not taking aripiprazole that morning would have made it more difficult to get to that conclusion fast enough.  
‘’Okay, people. Stop.’’ I heard a voice coming at us. She stood up and let me do it too. The teacher that shouted at her to stop beating me also told us all that the pro-vice-chancellor had decided to install a temporary curfew and that everyone should be inside their dorms by ten.

 

Once I’d gotten dinner, I went directly to my room. There, Sylvia showed me she’d been there all evening by asking me where I’d been. She was probably not used to me getting out of our room.  
‘’I was doing homework and getting in a fight.’’ I told her.  
‘’Oh, yeah?’’ she said and looked at me ‘’With whom? Why?’’  
‘’Well, someone was murdered today.’’ I replied ‘’Vera.’’  
‘’Majstorović?’’ She asked.  
‘’I don’t know.’’  
‘’Shit, you don’t care about people that die in your school?’’ she asks. I kept myself, barely, from crying after her question ‘’Anyway, what did that have to do with the fight?’’  
I made a long silence before replying ‘’She said I killed her.’’  
‘’If it wasn’t you-’’  
‘’It wasn’t me, for fuck’s sake!’’ I shouted.  
‘’Listen, Bella. If it wasn’t you, and I believe it wasn’t, it was probably a serial killer.’’  
I quickly started to make deep breaths. ‘’What makes you think that?’’  
‘’If it’s who I think it is, I knew her, sorta. Nobody hated her. And besides, they always go for women. Did you see how she was murdered?’’  
‘’I never got to see the corpse, just the people around it.’’  
‘’Well, it’s probably a good idea not to go out when it’s dark. At least until these idiots figure out how to improve the security system of this damn school.’’

 

‘’You killed Vera.’’ I heard upon waking up in the middle of the night. I had only slept for half an hour, and it had taken me a while. It was more than one voice, and none were like that other girl’s. ‘’She is following you. She knows.’’ Waiting until I had no choice but to fall asleep while I hoped to not start seeing anything weird was the most boring part of my day. I cried, though. If Sylvia was awake and heard, she was making an effort to ignore it.

 

In the morning I went to the center of the women’s dorms. I stood there until the girl that had attacked me the day before walked past me. She didn’t notice me. When I realized where she was going, I took a different route to get there. It was the campus’ smaller café. I got inside trying to make it seem casual and ordered something while I kept looking at her at times. Although she’d not looked at me once, I was sure there was something she was trying to get from me when I wasn’t looking. A very pale guy got my attention just by walking in. As I tried not to stare at him instead of the other girl, he seemed to be getting closer to me. In a way, even though he was attractive, he looked sick. I felt colder when he stood beside me.  
‘’Spying on someone?’’ His voice was flat, less deep than I expected by noticing his height.  
‘’More like someone spies on me.’’  
He turns to look at the girl I stared at and then back at me, then sat down in front of me. ‘’I can assure you she doesn’t even notice you.’’  
‘’How… Who are you?’’  
‘’I’m sorry, I forgot to mention it.’’ He said, almost whispering ‘’My name is Edward.’’  
I kept staring while wanting to ask why he thought he knew that girl’s intentions.  
‘’And you?’’ He asked.  
‘’Bella.’’ I told him, perhaps not loud enough.  
‘’Belle?’’ He said and smiled.  
‘’Bella, like the vampire.’’  
He frowned. Thinking he didn’t like the idea of them, I went on.  
‘’You know, Bela Lugosi.’’ I said and made a pause ‘’That song… from the late seventies.’’  
He stares before talking again.  
‘’No, yeah I remember.’’ He said, looking away.  
I tried to smile even as I shook my head softly ‘’Remember? You weren’t alive in the-’’  
‘’Vampires don’t exist, you know that, right?’’  
For a moment I thought the words that had come out of my mouth before he said that had been different, but I trusted my recent memory.  
‘’Wh- I mean, just because I wear fishnets and platform boots doesn’t mean I believe in vampires.’’  
‘’I’ve seen some people dressed that way.’’ He told me, suddenly seeming to take his words more seriously ‘’Who swore they were vampires.’’  
I stared and swallowed my own saliva, trying to look at something other than him.  
‘’Huh’’ I replied ‘’Well, I’m sorry you had to see that.’’  
He didn’t reply. Instead, he stared at me and slightly frowned again.  
‘’You look like you haven’t slept for days.’’ I told him, trying to get some reaction from him. Since he was still silent, I kept talking ‘’So, do you know what her name is?’’  
He looked back at the girl who fought me the day before. ‘’Liv.’’  
He stared for seconds and so did I. At some point I started thinking he was one to have similar thoughts to mine, that maybe he knew someone spied on me but it wasn’t her. As soon as I felt my own heart beat much faster from thinking about that, he got up.  
‘’See you.’’ He said, not having bothered to even look at me.  
I followed him with my gaze but didn’t reply.


	2. Geek The Girl

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sorry for how many months this has taken me. But anyway. When I said I changed Bella from canon, that did include her race. Don’t ask me why.

On a day I thought the panic after the murder had went away, Sylvia walked beside me on campus. We were near the library and wanted to give a couple of books back. Some walls that happened to be built in front of the library’s outside door formed an alley and made it probably the most quiet part of campus. Few people were around, since no one seemed to have midterms and it wasn’t the main entrance. That’s why it surprised me when a guy stopped us from behind, touching my shoulder. When we turned around, we realized it wasn’t just him. Another guy stood behind him.  
‘’I’m into Asians, you know?’’ One of them said to me. Although I could feel myself getting colder, I replied with ‘’But I’m not into you.’’  
The other guy grabbed Sylvia by her curly hair, and his fingers got caught in it.   
‘’Shit!’’ I could only say as the one that had talked to me pulled my hair too. Only then did it occur to me that those could have been the guys that killed Vera, but the thought of it being me was still in the back of my mind. The man who had talked to me took my neck and immediately stopped because something came along so fast I couldn’t see it and knocked him over, making him fall over the other guy. After I looked at Sylvia and back at the scene I realized it was Edward.  
‘’Um…’’ She said.  
‘’Hey’’ He said to me. ‘’Let’s get walking.’’  
We walked towards the main entrance and Sylvia stared at me.  
‘’Oh’’ I said ‘’Right, Sylvia, this is Edward.’’  
She turned around for a moment to look at him.  
‘’And Edward, this is Sylvia, my roommate.’’ I said before he looked at her.  
‘’I met him at the café near the campus center.’’ I told her.   
‘’Oh, really?’’ she asked, I could tell she faked interest to a degree ‘’I don’t remember seeing him before’’  
I didn’t either, of course, but I didn’t reply.

After we were done giving back the books, Sylvia decided to go back to her room and do homework. Edward and I could hang out together for longer, since I didn’t have much to do then. We just sat on an area with grass and shade, and he was the first to talk after that.  
‘’I do like gothic rock, actually.’’  
‘’Really?’’ I smiled ‘’How come you didn’t tell me last time?’’  
He kept silent and stared at the grass.  
‘’What? You didn’t want to seem like you were trying to impress me or something?’’  
He smiled too, almost laughed slightly. ‘’Yeah, that was it, somewhat.’’  
He looked away again.  
‘’So what are studying?’’  
‘’I’m not from here, actually, I have a job.’’ He said as he looked at me. His sight on me made my face feel warmer.  
‘’And they never tell you to leave?’’ I asked, more concerned about that than why he was even here if he had nothing to do inside.  
‘’I guess I blend in’’ He told me, this time he smiled barely at me ‘’What about you?’’  
It took me a moment to remember what I had originally asked, then I said:  
‘’I study theatre.’’  
‘’I like plays.’’ He simply replied.  
‘’Well, we’ve one a couple now.’’ I told him ‘’I’m actually working on writing one now. I’ve played in Othello, A Streetcar Named Desire, Dracula... ’’  
‘’You like Nico?’’ He asked so quickly he was almost interrupting me.  
‘’Uh, yeah, I guess.’’ I said ‘’It’s more like background music to me.’’  
He kept silent again, for so long that it was up to me to talk again.  
‘’Listen, I don’t know if I’m going to come off wrong but, what else do you know about Liv?’’ His gaze went back to me after I asked that.  
‘’In regards to what exactly?’’ His voice was softer this time.  
I looked around to decide on my choice of words.  
‘’Does she ever say stuff about me? In the last week at least?’’  
He frowned a bit, and exhaled. ‘’I don’t know her well, but like I told you, she hasn’t really thought about you lately.’’  
‘’How can you tell if you don’t know her?’’ I wasn’t convinced, and his words didn’t convince me any more. He got his face closer to mine for a couple of seconds.  
‘’I just have ways of knowing.’’ He said, and kept talking, maybe to seem less serious ‘’Last time you thought she spied on you. Why?’’  
‘’There’s something that tells me… Well, you’ve probably heard of the murder last week.’’  
‘’I did.’’ He kept his eyes on mine as he said it.  
‘’She thinks I’m the killer.’’  
He smiled, in a somewhat sarcastic way ‘’Well, that’s ridiculous.’’  
It seemed weird to me for him to reply something so short and simple.  
‘’Huh… you’re not wondering why she would think that?’’ I asked.  
‘’Oh, forgive me’’ His tone sounded genuine ‘’I shouldn’t assume but, I thought she just went by what people say about you.’’  
The thought of people talking about me all over campus, commonly enough for him to get to hear it made my heart beat faster. I wanted to bury my hand in the ground nails-first, but I just took some pieces of grass and plucked them.  
‘’You’ve heard rumors about me?’’ As I asked this, he got his face inches further from me.  
‘’Yes, some people say you’re some sort of psychopath.’’  
I crossed my arms and only realized I had done that when he stared at them.  
‘’I’m not.’’ I told him as I uncrossed them ‘’I’m just mentally ill.’’  
‘’That explains it.’’ He barely whispered.  
‘’What does it explain?’’  
He raised his brows. ‘’Just… I mean, they wouldn’t call you a psychopath just to cater to your edgy goth fantasies I guess.’’  
I could feel myself frown. ‘’I should probably go back with Sylvia.’’ I said as I got up. He didn’t reply, nor did he even turn to look at me.

The whole experience of having talked to him seemed more negative in hindsight, but even with how sensitive I was I managed to not shed a tear. In a way I knew that what hurt me was that maybe he didn’t take me very seriously. It was a common thing among goths to feel that our statuses were dictated by other goths, at least older ones. Still, I wasn’t as attached to him, and I told Sylvia something similar when she asked me if we were dating.

A couple of days after that, something more important kept me from even remembering that conversation: They’d found another woman’s body. I was in my room, but Sylvia opened the door and didn’t wait to get inside to tell me about it. She also told me that I should be meeting with the Vice Chancellor in a few hours, since the heads of every women’s dorm floor would discuss security issues with him.  
‘’Who was it?’’ I asked her as I got my stuff out to get ready for a shower.  
‘’The victim?’’   
‘’Yes’’ I took off my makeup as she replied.  
‘’I never knew her, but her name was Chelsea.’’  
When I was cleansing my face, she spoke again.  
‘’I told you it was a serial killer.’’  
‘’Well, whatever it is, these people have to figure out a way to stop this. I mean, come on, this can’t be happening on campus.’’  
I dried my face and got undressed.  
‘’You’re naive.’’ She said lowly.

I got a bit early to the room where we would meet with the Vice Chancellor. I remembered to tone down my makeup and clothes in case someone wanted to point at something as a reason to not take me seriously. There were about twenty other heads of dorm floors. After the VC arrived, we went straight to the point. The woman at my right spoke about the need for security inside of campus.  
‘’What do you propose?’’ He simply asked her as a reply. Another one told him that they can have guards around the dorm buildings and in the darker or private areas of campus. The one on my left said that they should at least install some lanterns on those darker areas. After this, he asked us if that was all. Since no one kept talking, he spoke.  
‘’Well, ladies, I came here for the purpose of avoiding more violence on campus, and I think that, in this case, it can all be boiled down to personal responsibility...’’  
I felt my brows rise.  
‘’...All of these things: Guards, lanterns, et cetera, would be useless and an unnecessary waste of money if the women of this institution aren’t ready to take responsibility for their own actions. Let’s consider the following: As soon as it’s getting dark, all women go to their dorm buildings. Simple as that. You may think this is an insensitive comment, but the truth is that I’ve come here with the intention of getting to a rational conclusion, and avoiding more deaths, so if it works, we can’t be blamed. So, what do you say?’’  
I looked around to find expressions that looked the same as mine felt. We looked at each other for a few seconds and then the woman who had been the first one to speak did again.  
‘’Sir, with all due respect, a speech so detached from reality can’t do anything for us. It may seem and may even be rational, but we sincerely can’t be all in our dorms at night. If we plan only according to how things should be and not according to how they are, it puts us all at risk.’’  
He got up from his seat.  
‘’Well, the institution isn’t ready to make sacrifices if you aren’t. Let’s wait a couple of weeks with the evening curfew and see how things turn out. Again, if you aren’t ready to make that sacrifice, there is nothing to discuss and you can all leave now.’’  
They all got up and I followed.  
‘’What the fuck’’ one of them said when we were outside the building ‘’He just said that like we don’t have classes at night or some shit.’’  
‘’I think he expects us to talk to our professors about it. Seriously, he’s out of his mind if he really thinks we’d accept-’’  
I then noticed their gazes. Some half-smiles and some full smiles while looking at each other. Something about the fact I was calling someone ‘out of their mind’ seemed to be funny to them, I could easily imagine why. I understood then that I wasn’t exactly a part of their group, so I quietly walked away. Looking at my watch, I realized it was a much shorter time than it felt like.


End file.
